Gun Control California

Top Los Angeles law enforcement officials Wednesday blasted pending state legislation aimed at expanding the availability of concealed weapon permits for most adults. Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams, Sheriff Sherman Block, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, city and state leaders and gun control advocates said that allowing more firearms on the streets would lead to more violent crime, not less. Officials predicted that if the bill, sponsored by Assemblyman William J.

Los Angeles' City Council and Police Commission both voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose pending state legislation that would relax the rules for obtaining permits to carry concealed weapons. Officials estimate that the bill sponsored by Assemblyman William J. "Pete" Knight (R-Palmdale) would result in the issuance of 1.5 million new concealed weapons permits throughout California, with 500,000 in Los Angeles County. It has passed through committee and awaits a vote by the full Assembly.

Gun control activists on Friday assailed Assemblyman James Rogan's recent vote against a bill banning cheap handguns or "Saturday night specials"--a vote that pitted him against Glendale's police chief. "There is no legitimate use for these guns. They can't be used for sporting; they are no good for self-defense," said Kellie Odou, a Glendale resident and member of the Pasadena-based Coalition for a Nonviolent City. "These guns are used for the commission of crime and violence."

An advisory group selected by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren is recommending that California ban the manufacture and sale of cheap and easily hidden handguns known as Saturday Night specials that are often used by violent criminals. The draft report by Lungren's Policy Council on Violence Prevention comes as the Legislature debates a bill by state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) that would outlaw such handguns.

Republicans on a key Assembly committee Tuesday defeated a gun control bill that would have outlawed easily concealed handguns known as "Saturday night specials." The action by the Public Safety Committee appears to end for now the uphill efforts of gun control activists and local police chiefs to enact substantial new restrictions on firearms this year.

Acknowledging they are reaching into a political hornet's nest, California's police chiefs called Friday for sweeping new regulations on gun ownership and increased penalties for illegal use of guns. "As chiefs of police, we are responsible for public safety," Los Gatos Police Chief Larry J. Todd told 175 members of the California Police Chiefs Assn. at its annual meeting. "That responsibility requires leadership. It is for these reasons that we are stepping forward."

Taking aim at the practice of granting concealed weapons permits to a privileged few, two conservative Republican lawmakers proposed a new law Tuesday to allow more Californians to carry guns. The announcement by Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale) and state Sen. Dick Monteith (R-Modesto) signaled the beginning of a showdown with Democratic legislators who advocate stricter gun control and who, earlier Tuesday, unveiled an ambitious six-bill package to restrict firearms access.

We've all heard the bromide, "If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns." It's a clever turn of words and makes some sense until you think about it. Then it makes a case for tighter gun control. Bear with me. In the first place, nobody's talking about outlawing all guns, except the scaremongers who run the gun organizations and need to keep the dues flowing from anxious gun owners. Nobody advocates banning hunting rifles and shotguns or six-shooters.

Brandishing the signatures of 3,000 people who believe as she does that carrying a firearm ought to be legal, defiant Simi Valley City Councilwoman Sandi Webb told state lawmakers Tuesday that--lawful or not--she totes a gun to protect herself and her teen-age daughter. In a deliberate, forceful voice, Webb testified before the Assembly Public Safety Committee in support of a bill to allow more people to legally carry concealed, loaded weapons.

The last time that Sandi Webb went crusading in Sacramento, she took a truckload of turnips and advised state lawmakers, "Try squeezing some blood out of these." Next week, the outspoken Simi Valley councilwoman will head to the state capital to testify before an Assembly committee on her latest crusade: loosening restrictions for carrying concealed weapons.